Welcome to my blog! This space is a chance to share in my travels and ministry and for me to share some of my thoughts and concerns as a Franciscan and as Minister General of Society of St. Francis with you. These are reflections of a modern friar on the road. Look for prayers and other items of inspiration as they move me.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Traveling to Belfast I met up with Br. David Jardine, SSF. He is founder and director of Divine Healing Ministries. Founded at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, this healing ministry takes a holistic approach to healing. Through prayer, laying on of hands, anointing with oil, people are healed physically, mentally and spiritually. But early on, Br. David understood the need for healing for the people of Ireland, healing of attitudes and old wounds which contributed to the internecine conflict in Northern Ireland. He began to pray and to call together an ecumenical group of people to pray for the healing of Ireland. Pictured above, David Jardine is in the back on the left. The others in the photo are part of his local Team who gather each week for prayer. Hundreds of people have joined in this effort, and many give explicit credit to the contribution of Divine Healing Ministries in an ending of the Troubles. recently (December 2) David was made Canon of St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, the first Religious to hold such a post in the Cathedral since the Reformation. Normally such a position is given to a parish priest.

From Belfast I returned to England to visit the brothers at Glasshampton Monastery. This somewhat daunting inscription is under the clock tower. And we kept busy praying and gardening, welcoming guests. Glasshampton was founded by Br. William Sirr who was a great social activist and worked on the London docks and was involved in the major social movements of the Twentieth Century. Yet he also was a great contemplative, and worked for the establishment of this house of prayer. The novices in the European province of SSF spend sometime during their formation at Glasshampton. All of the brothers have stories to tell of their time there. I was very grateful for the chance to see the place and be reminded of the centrality of contemplative prayer to the work of Society of St. Francis. Pictured below is Br. Jason Robert, formerly of the Province of the Americas, working on a project in the garden. Br. Amos and I spent a couple afternoon work periods trimming the beech hedge which surrounds the house.

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About Me

I am the Minister General of the Society of St. Francis, a religious order for men in the Anglican Communion. I am an Episcopal priest and have lived, for the past 10 years in Mt. Sinai, Long Island, New York (www.s-s-f.org). Currently I spend nearly 10 months of the year traveling among the provinces of the Society of St. Francis

Something Old, Something New

The monks of the order of the Holy Cross at Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery in Grahamstown, SA, use a wonderful version of the Salve Regina:

Mary we hail you, Mother and Queen compassionate: Mary most holy, great and pure, we hail you. To you your children, members of Christ lift our voices. To you we sing praises that by your obedience you brought forth to us a Savior. Pray for us now, O our intercessor, that the grace of earnest repentance be given to us sinners. And may we, when our earthly sojourn has been ended, joy in Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, O gentle, O tender, O gracious Virgin Mary.

Do It Anyway Prayer

1. The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

-this version is credited to Mother Teresa

Clark Kae Kae

Isn't he adorable? Named after me

Subjects for Prayer

My God, if it is true that you are everywherewhy am I so often elsewhere in my thoughts?

If you travel around the world, you will find traces of God;if you go into your own depths, you will find God himself.

Bose Monastery Welcome leaflet

A Table Prayer

For food in a worldwhere many walk in hunger,For faith in a worldwhere many walk in fear,For fellowship in a worldwhere many walk alone

We give you thanks, O Lord!

A Prayer from Taize

Christ Jesus, within us there is a silent longing. And when our inner being becomes dispersed, our thirsty heart dares to say: enable me to live from you, O Christ; gather up my desire and my thirst.

Pray for Peace

A Sign near the DMZ in Korea

A 14th Century Invitation

Come, come again, and again...Come, be you unbeliever, idolator or fire-worshiper...Our hearth is not the threshold of despair;Even if you have broken your vow of repentance a hundred times,come again

As seen on the London Underground

From The Prelude by William Wordsworth

Now free,Free as a bird to settle where I willWhat dwelling shall receive me? In what valeShall be my harbor? Underneath what groveShall I take up my home? And what clear streamShall with its murmur lull me into rest?

The earth is all before me. With a heartJoyous, nor scared at its own liberty,I look about, and should the chosen guideBe nothing better than a wandering cloud,I cannot miss my way.

Anglican Chaplaincy in Assisi

This is St. Leondard's church where Br. Thomas Anthony is Chaplain

Br. Geoffrey, First Minister General of SSF

"It seems to me St. Francis would have a great deal to say today about reverence for the land and the animal kingdom, for much is going on in the name of economic necessity which is little short of scandalous."

--Delivered to S.S.F. Chapter in mid 1970's

Matthew Fox's Thesis #64

"Love of life is everyone's daily task."

Greetings from New Zealand Archbishop

Warm greetings and peace.

On behalf of The Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia Te Hahi Mihinare ki Aotearoa, ki Niu Tireni, ki Nga Moutere o te Moana Nui a Kiwa, I write to formally express the warmest of welcomes, on the occasion of your first visit to these islands as Minister General.

The Society of Saint Francis has been present in this Province for over 30 years and has endeared itself to the hearts of many, through the spirituality, compassion and solidarity of the Brothers. Friars have served as youth ministers, school chaplains, social workers, spiritual directors, retreat leaders, parish priests, social service agency directors, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to thousands of Maori and Pakeha New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders throughout this Church.

Through the presence of the First and Third Orders of The Society, we have come to know and be transformed by the example of Saint Francis. The Franciscan embodiment of the way of Christ is now firmly seeded, rooted and established in our hearts and lives. For this incalculable gift we are profoundly thankful to God.

The presence of The Friary of The Divine Compassion at the Waikato Christian Social Service Village, Te Ara Hou, bears witness to the on-going quality and commitment of The Society of Saint Francis in the South Pacific. In return the Brothers have won, once again, the profound affection and respect of this Church as they seek to witness Christ after the example of Saint Francis.

For all these reasons we are honoured by your visit and ask you to receive this small token of our gratitude for your time amongst us; the woven flax cross plaque of The Anglican church in this part of the world.

With warmest regards,

Yours in Christ,

+David Waikato

David J. MoxonBishop of WaikatoArchbishop of The New Zealand Dioceses

Presented April 21, 2008

Welcome to Papua New Guinea

First Order Brothers, Third Order Brothers and sisters and SSF Companions welcome me to Haruru in PNG

Welcome to the Solomon Islands

A Prayer from Taize

Holy Spirit, enable us to turn towards you at every moment. So often we forget that you dwell in us, you pray in us, and that you live in us. Your presence in us is trust and continual forgiveness.

A daily prayer for the struggle

The world has the means to end extreme poverty. We pray that we will have the will.

Words from Dr. King in honor of his birthday

If you cannot be a spruce tree on the top of a hight mountain, be at least a fertile blade of grass in the valley.

If you cannot be an oak tree, at least be a shrub.

If you are not a highway, be at least a viable pathway.

If you cannot be the sun, try to be a small star.

Endeavor to find out the secret plan that should structure your life, and adopt it as a practice.

Words of Wisdom

"We don't have to be "successful," only valuable. We don't have to make money, only a difference, and particularly in the lives society counts least and puts last."

from Credo,by William Sloane Coffin

For the Love of God

May the power of your love, O Lord, fiery and sweet as honey, so fill my heart as to withdraw it from all that is under heaven; and grant that I may be willing to die for love of your love as you died for love of mine.

The Absorbeat by St. Francis

A Prayer

Grant, Lord, that we, who have been redeemed from our unworthiness and made fit by Christ's sacrifice to share in his kingdom, may remember what we were and what we are, and may forgive as we have been forgiven; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

From the Australian Alternative Collets, 1985

A Franciscan Blessing

May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts. Amen.

May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may work for justice, freedom and peace. Amen.

May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that we may reach out our hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. Amen.

May God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.

And the blessing of God who Creates, Redeems and Sanctifies be upon us and all we love and pray for this day, and forever more. Amen.

I first heard this given by the late Jim Kelsey, Bishop of Northern Michigan and a great friend.